Sustainability Reflection

I believe that our world can support many more people than it does now. If one looks at the way in which affluence and global GDP has shifted in the past century, it becomes apparent that at some point, an incredibly large population could be sustained with food, water, housing and sanitation by our earth. In the mean time, as stated by Karl Marx, capitalism and the over-consumption that plagues our planet is a necessary evil that must be tolerated in order to create an environment n which everyone is provided their basic needs.

I believe that because thier is such a gulf between MEDC’s and LEDC’s, that their needs to be a better distribution so that the worlds human capital in LEDC’s is not decreased (death). By sustaining this influx of human capital, the global afluence will continue to rise, eventually eliminating poverty.

Finally, the largest and most omnipresent problem that global society is faced with is the transportation of vital resources. While much of the world’s resources are needed to inspire innovation in our country (containing only 5% of the global population), there also needs to be basic needs fulfilled in LEDC’s in order to provide not only a working class, but also further innovation. By increasing the transportation of resources we will increase the number of people on the planet, drawing us closer to a position in which we will be able to continue to distribute resources more evenly (communism in Marx’s eyes, sustainability in environmentalists).

Through this increased demand on resources, we will be forced to recycle the majority of what we produce, and use all of our resources to the maximum of their efficiency. The waste that is created now is caused by a lack of need (demand) for the most sustainable use of resources.

At the moment, some things are already working towards this goal, but they are merely glimpses of the future; but as Marx said, communism (sustainability) cannot be achieved without an initial period of growth that is fueled by capitalism, and unsustainable practices.